Credit card perks

I don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but for now, at least here in the Philippines, using your credit card now seems to be a better option than using your cash. Not only do you collect reward points which you can use to collect items, you get a lot of freebies and rebates when you spend a certain amount of money!

HSBC used to offer the very successful free Starbucks for every Php2000 spend. Now that promo is over but there is a new one in place -- get free GCs for spends of at least Php2000 or if you pay via installment (which is also another perk as you can now get big ticket items with long installment terms and with zero interest). They also have 5% rebates when you gas up at Caltex!

BPI has free Goldilocks products for spends of at least Php1500. Eastwestbank on the other hand, offers Red Ribbon products for a minimum Php1000 spend. Metrobank offers free McDonald's food for at least Php2000 spend.

Citibank offers 3 free movie theater tickets for a minimum Php3000 spend at SM and a free Crocs Jelly camera for a minimum Php2000 spend.

Standard Chartered offers Gloria Jean's coffee and cookies for a minimun Php1500 spend.

I'm not sure if BDO still offers pizza from California Pizza Kitchen, but I know they still have some sort of perk too!

I think most cards come with these perks nowadays. We just have to read the fine print AND make sure that we do not spend more than we should and spend more than we can afford to pay off just to be able to avail of the freebies.

These perks come at a great time too! It's that time of the year when people start stocking up on Christmas presents and giveaways.

Happy shopping!